Selected Directions that Inform OVPUE's Restart
A. Guidance regarding meetings
Source: Final Interim Faculty and Staff Guidance Checklist
- If possible, avoid holding office hours in person. Instead, talk to students by phone, email, Skype, Zoom, etc.
- Department chairs should reconsider calling meetings, especially if the meeting takes place in a small room. Instead, the meeting should take place by phone, email, Skype, Zoom etc. If this is not possible, consider having the meeting in a large room, so attendees are able to spread out and avoid sitting close together.
B. Guidance regarding facilities
Source: COVID-19 Facilities Restart Guidelines
- General
- …members of the IU community will clean and disinfect their own offices, workstations, desks, and conference rooms before and after each use. Cleaning products will be provided and restocked by facilities staff.
- No cleaning guidelines will be able to completely eliminate all risks of touch points. Building managers, occupants and users should look to reduce the risk of commonly touched objects by as many means as possible to include:
- Washing hands frequently
- Wiping down the sink after washing hands
- Using a paper towel or handkerchief to open doors
- Consideration should be given to prop open commonly used doors if practical and if reasonable privacy can still be maintained to reduce the number of times the doorknob needs to be touched and to increase air circulation
- The decision to prop open doors should be limited to interior doors only and only when doing so does not disable or prevent any mechanical interconnects. We will not prop open doors required by other life safety codes to mechanically close in the case of emergencies.
- Propping open exterior doors or windows is generally not recommended as it decreases the efficiency of heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.
- Service Levels
Classrooms, Study Rooms, Computer Clusters, Conference Rooms, and Work Areas
- Level 1 (Normal Service)
- Dust mop, spot and full wet mop floors; vacuum floors
- Clean chalkboards and whiteboards; empty pencil sharpeners
- Reset furniture
- Spot clean walls, high dust
- Replace chalk, markers and erasers (general inventory classrooms)
- Level 2 (Additional COVID-19 Service)
- Provide hand sanitizer stands and sanitizing wipes in every classroom; keep fully stocked
- Disinfect kiosk stations
- Disinfect exterior door handles
- Full clean desks, tables and chairs
- Off-shift disinfectant misting of space
- Provide hand sanitizer stands and sanitizing wipes in every classroom; keep fully stocked
Offices
- Level 1 (Normal Service)
- Dust all corners and horizontal surfaces
- Wipe down horizontal surfaces
- Mop hard floors; vacuum floors
- Level 2 (Additional COVID-19 Service)
- Provide spray bottle with disinfectant for an office suite to be used for self-cleaning of office personal space
- Disinfect exterior door handles at the suite level
- Level 1 (Normal Service)
- Physical Distancing and Occupant Experience
- Facility signage and markers will be developed and posted to assist occupants in navigating facilities while maintaining physical distancing per the Restart Committee Recommendations Report, including items such as:
- Floor markers for traffic flow are not generally encouraged. Occupants will instead be encouraged to use standard rules of the road and walk to the right in hallways, stairwells and circulation areas.
- Floor markers to represent safe interaction distances may be placed in office spaces and at transactional counters in reception areas.
- Seating in common areas and classrooms will be marked appropriately.
- The primary preventative measure is to use appropriate physical distancing. The use of other physical barriers like plexiglass should be used only when 6-foot distances cannot be attained, the individuals who are interacting are at face level to each other at the same height (all seated or all standing), and will usually be restricted to high volume point-of-service transaction areas or in older office designs with physical barriers that do not allow adequate physical distancing when applicable. If necessary, plexiglass barriers will be made available through IU Purchasing using the CPF Interiors-approved furniture catalog. No modifications may be made to existing furniture or facilities without prior approval by CPF.
- IU Purchasing website: https://purchase.sitehost.iu.edu/resources/procedures.php#furniture
- Public venue management may use a combination of signage and floor markers to indicate line queuing and safe physical distancing principles while waiting in lines.
- For large gatherings when resumed, physical distancing reminders may be augmented by public address notifications and event staff.
- Facility signage and markers will be developed and posted to assist occupants in navigating facilities while maintaining physical distancing per the Restart Committee Recommendations Report, including items such as:
- Preventative Material Placement
- An adequate supply of preventative material, based on frequency of use and numbers of users, will be placed in clearly-marked locations for building occupants and restocked by facilities staff.
- These materials include items such as:
- Hand sanitizer stations located at major entrances to buildings and in high-traffic areas
- Disinfectant spray
- Sanitizing wipes
- Antibacterial soap
- Ventilation and Facility Controls Considerations
- Due to the variety of different building types, ventilation systems, and facility controls being utilized, no single set of guidelines can accommodate every individual building type or system across all IU facilities.
- IU will continue to monitor federal, state, public health and industry standard heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) guidelines to make solid and safe decisions tailored to each facility in all locations to manage and mitigate risk.
- IU is committed to minimizing COVID-19 risk for building users by regularly inspecting air handling units, replacing filters, and assuring appropriate air flows and fresh air. In addition, interior hallway/corridor doors may be propped open where practical and to the extent possible to assure proper HVAC operation, security, and minimize door touchpoints for building users. But all these procedures must be balanced across other considerations to include security, privacy, individual comfort, building energy efficiency and potential for unintended consequences.
- Building occupants should be sure to contact their facility department if building conditions are too hot, too cold, or if there is a ventilation concern.
- Some basic considerations for ventilation and facility controls are:
- Verify filters and proper operation of all HVAC units
- Reducing the occupant capacity of a building or space effectively increases HVAC performance
- Avoid adjustments that could trigger second or third order detrimental effects
- Ensure locally-installed ventilation equipment is functioning properly
- Systems should be set to run continuously during occupancy (if practical)
- Allow inside doors (suites, etc.) to remain open where practical to increase air circulation
- The decision to prop open doors should be limited to interior doors only and only when doing so does not disable or prevent any mechanical interconnects. We will not prop open doors required by other life safety codes to mechanically close in the case of emergencies.
- Propping open exterior doors or windows is generally not recommended as it decreases the efficiency of heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.
- Adjust local temperature set points and control humidity levels
- Avoid use of portable high velocity fans, especially in common areas or open offices when blowing across multiple workstations
- Furniture Considerations
- No modifications to existing facilities or furniture may be made without preapproval from CPF.
- For modifications to existing furniture or other space modifications/installations, please submit a Capital Projects Request for Service (https://facility.rfs.indiana.edu/rfs.cfm) for assistance.
- Indiana University maintains a wide variety of types of spaces and furniture guidelines from low seating density private offices to high seating density auditoriums. Furniture considerations in a COVID situation are challenging to accommodate for every scenario, but we can describe some basic furniture seating principles to maintain adequate physical distancing.
- Notes about minimum space considerations to allow for physical distancing of 6 feet per person:
- Classrooms and offices where the primary activity includes remaining seated
- An average of 60 sqft per person should work in most offices and classrooms
- In most cases, no major accommodations for closed offices or most cubicles will be necessary Open office design will require more consideration, possibly requiring alternating or removing seating to maintain 6-foot distances
- General circulation
- For areas that require a high degree of mobility or motion throughout the activity, where occupants come and go frequently, or where available space is reduced through obstructions, furniture and equipment, a comfort factor of roughly 120 sqft per person may be applied to the total area.
- Classrooms and offices where the primary activity includes remaining seated
- No modifications to existing facilities or furniture may be made without preapproval from CPF.
C. Guidance regarding Events and Working at Events
Source: Fall2020.iu.edu Event Considerations
- Participation in live events are a central component of an Indiana University experience. Convocations, lectures, concerts, sporting events, symposia, and performances create opportunities to share important perspectives, commemorate experiences, find commonalities with others, create meaningful networks between members of our community, and strengthen bonds with our university.
- In order to provide such opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic, the following should be considered when determining if and how an event should be held:
- Compliance with current guidance from CDC, Indiana State Department of Health, and University policy
- Event Layouts and seating configurations that maintain physical distancing guidelines for seating, line queuing, restroom usage, attendee circulation
- Registration and ticketing processes with updated terms and conditions, waivers, etc.
- Virtual experiences for those who cannot or should not attend in person
- Messaging for attendee education of risk and communication of behavioral expectations (invitations, ticketing flow, know before you go, printed handouts, event signage, announcements)
- Mandatory use of face coverings for attendees
- Attendee safety, security, and compliance screening procedures and enforcement plans
- Screening protocols for presenters/performers/athletes
- Personal hygiene facilities available for handwashing, hand sanitizing, etc.
- Method to obtain contact information for potential contact tracing for attendees, staff, contractors, presenters/performers/athletes, volunteers
- Entry and dismissal procedures that maximize physical distancing by employing timed or zoned entry/exit, maximizes the use of all available doors most proximate to the event or seat location
- Shelter-in-place and evacuation capacities that preserve physical distancing wherever possible
- Food and beverage offerings and procedures that minimize contact, queuing, and eliminate shared use
- Contactless transactions (ticketing, ticket scanning, F&B transactions, conference materials, programs, etc.)
- Sanitation protocols for venue surfaces, seating, and equipment (microphones, radios, headsets, etc.)
- HVAC systems settings to limit recirculation of air wherever possible
D. Transportation and Logistics
Source: Return To Campus: The COVID-19 Guide for Departments
- Employee Travel
- Travel to Work
- Employees travel to work in a variety of methods, including in personal vehicles and on public transportation. Departments should encourage employees to maintain physical distancing recommendations of 6 feet when traveling to work. Where physical distancing is not possible or difficult to maintain, employees should be encouraged to wear face coverings. Departments should also encourage their employees to take additional measures to protect themselves by frequent cleaning and disinfecting of surfaces in personal vehicles and to disinfect after refueling their vehicles.
- Business Travel
- Only essential IU travel through the end of 2020 is permitted. The following applies to IU sponsored and work travel:
- Intercampus travel to IU campuses is permitted. However, other means of conducting business, such as teleconferencing, are strongly encouraged.
- Essential IU travel should align with research restart guidelines or academic mission. Travel must be approved by the EVP, VP, AVP, dean, or their designee (fiscal officer).
- All travel arrangements should be made through University Travel Services.
- International Travel
- Upon arriving to IU from an international location, you must spend 14 days at home, monitoring your health and practicing physical distancing.
- Remain out of public places.
- Do not attend in-person classes or engage in in-person work, research, or other activities on campus.
- Limit your interaction with others as much as possible, and keep your distance from others (6 feet or 2 meters). This guidance is based on current CDC guidance and presidential directives, and is therefore subject to change.
- Travel to Work
- IU-Provided Transportation
- Physical distancing may not be feasible when using campus transportation (vans, buses, vehicles). Passengers should keep risks to a minimum by following CDC guidance and using the following strategies to minimize risk:
- Encourage walking and biking as much as possible.
- Wear cloth masks on all transportation.
- Sanitize hands with personal hand sanitizer after exiting the vehicle.
- Clean/disinfect the vehicle after use. (See Interim Guidance for the Cleaning and Disinfection of IU-provided Transport.)
- Physical distancing may not be feasible when using campus transportation (vans, buses, vehicles). Passengers should keep risks to a minimum by following CDC guidance and using the following strategies to minimize risk: